Today we walked around Kabul. First
we saw the Pakistan embassy (for a transit visa) then we registered at the US
embassy. Marines protect our embassy behind sandbagged barricades and swirls of
barbed wire. They politely let us inside where we fill out a form that asks for
our names and emergency contacts. We walk around 'Chicken Street,' the market
street of Kabul. Here you can play grenade toss or rocket roulette. That's not
a good joke, an Afghan fundamentalist lobbed a grenade at two marines on this
street last month. We feel safe, however, because we're dressed like locals and
an armed mujadeen (Afghan freedom fighter turned police force) stands on every
corner. Snow falls towards evening yet we keep exploring the city because we know
the lovely smell of human excrement awaits at our hotel room. We plan to upgrade
to a better hotel tomorrow.

Kabul
looks like a city of boxes.

Chicken street is the tourist shopping district
of Kabul. Do they think tourists are chickens?